Finance Business Partner

at  Absa Bank Limited

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.
With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.
Job Summary
The purpose of the ole will be focused on building financial models using historical data; product related information based on various industry & internal inputs in support of business cases, strategic initiatives, potential new products and partnerships.

Job Description

• The incumbent will be required to perform financial reconciliations’, analysis, and reporting in an accurate, complete and timely manner; and continuously seeks to improve operations by scaling automated financial processes to doing deep dives and trend analyses, to crafting financial solutions aligned to all appropriate controls, business financial health and growth objectives.
• The Finance Business Partner equips finance and business leadership with sound financial information to support decision making at all levels.
• The incumbant will be responsible for acting as the intermediary between business/operations and Finance. The Finance Business Partner is also responsible for leading financial planning activities (RAF/MTP/Outlooks), as well as maintaining the Finance Management Information (MI) to report on the financial and business performance of the BU.
• The Finance Business Partner of the business enables achieving the operational objectives of the business by building an agile finance enablement to transform, to bring stewardship, financial integrity & insights to the current state of the business & its future possibilities to deliver on the new operating model and to achieve the business objectives set by Absa.
• The Finance Business Partner co-creates Finance capabilities required to lead to exponential growth and business effectiveness.
• The incumbent will also oversee treasury activities and maintain the approved funding structure of the business.

Commercial Finance Execution Accountabilities

• Serve as a subject matter expert on financial data integrity, accounting processes, reconciliations’, analysis and reporting for end-to-end Financial Management in business area.
• Develop and sustain knowledge and experience on the end to end processes, including relevant systems within scope of work.
• Responsible for continuous operational excellence and real-time responsiveness of finance to enable business to achieve growth and profitability objectives.
• Prepare for all planning cycles in advance and ensure adequate engagement with the relevant finance and business teams.
• Focus on information-driven performance improvement and formulate data into easy access standardised views.
• Ensure that the CFO and senior managers are appraised of key financial issues that need to be raised with executive leadership to enable integrity and timely management the BU.
• Create unprecedented, seamless customer experiences via finance BU enablement.
• Embrace our distinctive brand aspiration and infuse in business.
• Identify and innovate operating practices to optimize the function. Embrace digital solutions.
• Drive continuous process efficiency, financial rigor and controls.
• Adopt what’s ‘best for absa’ approach in finance practices.
• Have a holistic eco-system view of business, that is, geography, customer, channel and product in developing information views of business.
• Book of work contribution: Build innovative finance business case financial information, insights and benefits tracking’s’ solutions to continuously inform management decisions.
• Transform and evolve Finance planning, tracking and control processes.
• Know BU financial ambitions and balance sheet aspirations of AVMS in performance reporting.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the core finance processes for AVMS Finance (annual planning, forecasting, spend trajectory and reporting).
• Understand and integrate Treasury, Risk, and Finance data from a BU perspective, where appropriate.
• Influence the build of a leading global payments hub, where applicable.
• Maintain stewardship and excellence which drives performance and sustainable growth through preservation of financial integrity.
• Be an active force for good in society through business execution.
• Contribute to BCM & cybersecurity processes relevant to the BU and finance execution.

Financial Reporting Accountabilities

• Build trust in the finance function through the creation of a single source of financial information which is corroborated by related management information sources and alignment to the agreed accounting principles, methodologies, and underlying data are correctly applied.
• Generate innovative easy to comprehend progress reports for leaders on their strategic agenda, short-term and long-term plans and investments, operational success metrics, efficiencies, risks and mitigations.
• Interact with the stakeholders to agree minimum quality standards, as well as an agreed method of communicating and resolving any identified quality deficiencies in the reporting process.
• Own the process of delivery of high-quality information for regular and ad-hoc enhanced reporting to agreed requirements, timelines, and standards.
• Act in line with the correct governance and control frameworks across the Finance team, as well as for proactively addressing any deficiencies and exceptions.
• Develop and implement control procedures as deficiencies or exceptions are identified which support the production of error-free reports. Assess and drive improvement of business accounting practices and policies.
• Take a commercial view on business and provide contextual insights into performance reports.
• Integrate advanced modelling and analysis capability to provide actionable intelligence, beyond data within the function.
• Generate finance narratives and insights driving business; and build pioneering new propositions.
• Ensure appropriate, quality and timeous delivery of accurate financial and non-financial management information to support business objectives and expectations, including appropriate financial and non-financial metrics, valid and insightful comments and packaging the information in a relevant and appropriate manner.
• Deliver reporting reflecting deep commercial, holistic understanding, coherency, clarity, and contextualisation. Tell the story with passion and conviction.
• Provide thought-leadership, insight, influence and challenge on evolving stakeholder information requirements and reporting processes to deliver analytics.
• Align to processes around month-end, year-end and planning cycles across the PSC finance community and BU based on the requirements from Group. Prepare for all cycles in advance and ensure adequate engagement with the relevant finance and BU teams.
• Manage the production of regular, high quality, standardised financial and non-financial reporting and analytics to Business and Finance; and focus on effective collaborative stakeholder hand-offs in the production.

People Investment Accountabilities

• Peer responsibility: Coach, inspire, engage, mentor and develop finance and business savvy leaders.
• Network with finance colleagues across ABSA and create awareness of challenges, opportunities and issues and encourage collaboration
• Focus on Finance skills evolution and remaining relevant.
• Embrace the value of finance partnership in Management Information, Advanced Analytics, business growth opportunities, and partnerships into the core of our business.
• Ensure deep personal understanding of income statement, balance sheet, margin returns, variance analysis, capital and liquidity requirements, revenues, assets, liabilities and capital, expenses, headcount analytics and other key ratios through relevant business engagement.

Role / Person Specification

• Minimum holding of a Post Graduate Degree (NQF level no.8+), CA (SA) or CIMA or MBA qualification preferred.
• 5+ years professional financial management experience (including articles if applicable)
• 2+ years Banking Experience desirable
• Knowledge and skills:
• Experience in executing finance processes.
• Experience in building financial models and an advanced Excel user
• Experience in financial planning and risk assessment
• Broad Finance including strategic, commercial, legal, risk and operational aspects
• Understanding of the financial services sector within a professional business environment
• Knowledge of building collaborative work environments

Education
Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Financial Sciences (Required)
Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.
Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertise

• Minimum holding of a Post Graduate Degree (NQF level no.8+), CA (SA) or CIMA or MBA qualification preferred.
• 5+ years professional financial management experience (including articles if applicable)
• 2+ years Banking Experience desirable
• Knowledge and skills:
• Experience in executing finance processes.
• Experience in building financial models and an advanced Excel user
• Experience in financial planning and risk assessment
• Broad Finance including strategic, commercial, legal, risk and operational aspects
• Understanding of the financial services sector within a professional business environment
• Knowledge of building collaborative work environment